Friday, May 31, 2013

The Odds are a Canadian band that I somehow overlooked back in the 90's. I always liked the band, I saw their music videos on TV and heard their "hits" on the radio, but never dug deeper and bought any of their full length albums until a couple of weeks ago. The Odds are a band I should have listened to more, they have a great power pop sound with plenty of guitar, a sound that is kind of edgy, but poppy and melodic enough to get mainstream radio play in Canada. The band went on a hiatus from 1999 to 2007, when Craig Northey left the band to pursue other projects. One of Northey's projects was a collaboration with the Gin Blossom's, Jesse Valenzuela to co-write and perform the theme song, Not A Lot Goin On for the hugely popular CTV show, Corner Gas. Ironically enough, this song might be the most recognizable Odds-related song in their career. More recently, the Odds could be seen (or at least heard) at Vancouver Canuck playoff games as their "house band" performing high above the ice in a private box. Unfortunately, for Canucks and Odds fans their appearance has been limited due to the Canucks lame early exit from the playoffs the last two years.

I dug through my tapes to find this rare little gem that was recorded from my big blaster tape deck onto cassette from a live CBC broadcast in 1996. This was a live in-studio performance in the CBC studios for a program called, RealTime that was heard on Saturday nights on the national network up here in Canada. The Odds performed songs from their latest album, Nest that featured the song, Someone Who's Cool, their biggest hit and arguably the best song they ever wrote. At this time the band was at the height of their career and have yet to match that success. This live session is a good listen, the band is playing their instruments through mini battery-powered amps so the sound is raw and they were obviously have a fun time in the studio. I honestly haven't listened to this tape since I recorded it, but I'm glad I can share it now. On the flip-side of the tape is a Sloan show from 1996 that might have been aired on the same night and I probably recorded the Odds session since I was recording anyways. The sound is okay, but be forewarned there is some static on the first two tracks (I seem to have a lot of radio reception problems on my stereo).
Enjoy!THE ODDSCBC "RealTime"CBC StudioVancouver, BCDecember 7, 1996

Monday, May 13, 2013

Though they only released three studio albums in the early 70's, the interest in Big Star has continued even 40 years later. The band's influence is evident in many bands today and though the band never reached huge mainstream success, they have (arguably) been widely regarded as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt You is a full length documentary film that will coming to theatres across the country this summer. The film features never seen before footage of the band as well as in depth interviews. It's unfortunate that 3 of the 4 members of the band had passed away (Chris Bell 1978, Alex Chilton 2010, Andy Hummel 2010) before the completion of the film. I'll definitely have an interest trying to catch a screening of the film, as I admittedly am not an expert about the band's history and legacy.

I first became aware of Big Star from listening to Replacements bootlegs with the band covering songs like, September Gurls and I'm In Love With A Girl. Hey, if my favourite band, the Replacements love Big Star, I better see what the fuss was. From that I bought a CD compiling both #1 Record and Radio City and also their third album, Sister Lovers/Third, definitely one of my wisest music decisions ever. I never had a chance to see Big Star live (I was too young during their original inception and the reunited version of the band never toured close enough) and the closest that I've come to Big Star-related live shows was the Posies and Golden Smog with Jody Stephens on drums, both shows (in different years) at the 400 bar in Minneapolis in the 2000's.

To get you in the right spirit, I'm posting the "reunited" version of Big Star (Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens, Jon Auer, Ken Stringfellow) rehearsing a run through of their set before the first reunion show that was immortalized on the live recording, Columbia: Live At Missouri University. Recordings like this are cool because they offer a fly-on-the wall listen to the band working through the songs, with some discussion about details of the songs. A solid sounding set, though the vocals are low in parts, this should interest any fans of the band and it's yet another rare document of a great band we don't know enough about and apparently can't get enough of.

01 In the Street02 Don't Lie To Me03 I Am the Cosmos04 Oh My Soul05 Ballad of El Goodo06 Back of a Car07 Way Out West08 Daisy Glaze09 Thirteen10 Baby Strange11 For You12 Feel13 September Gurls14 Thank You Friends15 Slut16 When My Baby's Beside Me